Just a Girl
by pixeltrixxi
Summary: Somehow, he knows Katniss Everdeen will never be 'just a girl' for him. Everlark story following their lives from the very beginning, right through to the Hunger Games and beyond.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"Come on Peeta, It's nearly time to go!" Peeta could hear the impatience in his mother's voice as he was finishing up the last few cookies ready to put them in the oven, and imagined her stood in the bakery, tapping her foot whilst she waited for him.

"I'm just finishing this batch, mother. I'll just be a moment."

"I'll let your father take you if you're going to be late. You're not tarnishing my reputation, boy."Peeta could hear her walking away, grumbling about how he was always late, and huffing every now and then. Peeta didn't mind this at all, his first day of school would be way more fun with his Papa. He smiled as he put the batch of cookies in the oven and wiped his hands clean on his apron, freeing his hands of any flour or dough there. He'd been looking forward to his first day of school so much, that he was already dressed in his school uniform, which was underneath his apron and thankfully not covered in flour or cookie dough (else he would've found himself on the receiving end of his mother's rolling pin or hand). He shuddered to think about that, lightly tracing his little fingers over a fresh mark on his forearm.

Peeta went over to his waiting Papa, who was holding out his coat for him, so he could walk straight into it and put his arms through the holes his Papa held out for him. "Thanks, Papa!" Peeta said in his sweetest voice, which caused his Papa to ruffle his hair a bit.

"C'mon, son. Don't want to miss your first day of school, do you?" Peeta shook his head, no. He'd been waiting for this day for about a week now. Or well, since his older brother, Rye had started school at the very least.

Peeta grabbed his Papa's hand and almost bolted out of the door in excitement. "Let's not be late, Papa!" He could hear his Papa chuckling behind him as he allowed his son to half drag him to the school.

-x-

As it turned out, they ended up outside the school gates in no time, and hand ended up being over twenty minutes early. Peeta's Papa was busy attempting to smooth out Peeta's unruly curls and dusting off his school uniform, when Peeta felt him freeze beside him. "What is it, Papa?" He looked up at his Papa, who was looking off to a pretty woman with blonde hair, who was talking quietly to two girls, who were hugging.

"You see the woman with the blonde hair over there?" His Papa asked, briefly looking down to his son. Peeta nodded. "I fell in love with her when I was younger." Peeta's Papa finished quietly.

Peeta scrunched up his face as he looked at the woman in more detail. She was pretty for sure – prettier than mother, anyway. She had a kind look about her, and her face seemed relaxed and happy. She wore a blue dress which complimented her blue eyes, and her blonde hair was in a fancy braid which was done up at the back of her head. Beside her were two girls, one younger than me, who looked a lot like her mother with her blonde hair and blue eyes, the other who looked to be around five, too. I guess she is starting school today like I am, and that we will be in the same year. "So why didn't you marry her, then?" Peeta asked as he watched the girl closely, who was wearing a red plaid dress and had dark hair which she wore in two braids.

His Papa looked down at him, a sad kind of smile upon his lips. "She fell in love with a coal miner from the Seam. Whenever he sings, even the birds fall silent to listen to him." Peeta didn't reply, he just watched the girl with the two braids hug her mother and little sister, before she skipped through the school gates and into the school.

-x-

Peeta took his seat in the assembly, behind the girl with the two braids. Their teacher headed up to the front of the hall, and smiled at them all. "Welcome, welcome! My name is Mrs Green, and I'll be your music teacher from now on." After introducing herself, everyone replied in unison, "Good morning, Mrs Green." At which she smiled again, a little more brightly. "Such happy faces! Now, who here knows the Valley song?" Peeta watches as the girl he'd been watching all morning shoots her hand straight up into the air. "Ah, miss...?"

"Katniss Everdeen." Peeta almost jumps when Katniss speaks up, as if he forgot she could actually speak, and finds himself pleasantly surprised when she has a voice which is just as pretty as her.

"Katniss, would you like to come up to the front and sing the Valley song for the rest of us?" Mrs Green asks kinda, beckoning to the stool next to her. Katniss nods shyly and gets up and walks to the front, then stands up on the stool Mrs Green offers. She closes her eyes and starts singing the Valley song.

Peeta is unable to stop watching Katniss sing, even if he wants to. He listens to her beautiful voice, unsure if he has ever heard a more wonderful sound in his entire (albeit short) life. He then realises that all is silent except for her voice filling the room, and that even the birds have stopped to hear her sing.

He feels like he has been enchanted by Katniss Everdeen, and even when she stops singing, her and her voice are the only things he can think about for the rest of the day.

-x-

As Peeta walks away from the queue, dinner tray in hand, he sees Katniss Everdeen sat on a table, currently by herself, picking at her food. He stops to breathe a little. 'Come on, Peeta. Why are you so nervous about a girl?' He tells himself. Somehow, he knows Katniss Everdeen will never be 'just a girl' to him.

He finally plucks up the courage to walk over to Katniss' table. "Can I sit here?" He asks her, the nervousness coming back, but thankfully not to his voice. He sees her stormy-grey eyes look up and narrow a little. She nods and he takes the seat across from her. She doesn't say anything so Peeta fills up the silence. "Peeta, my name is Hi – uh, I mean -" he is disrupted in his rambling by Katniss giggling at him madly, the wariness previously in her eyes replaced by the smile that reached them, making them twinkle. A bit like the night sky, he thinks.

"Well then, 'Hi'...my name is Katniss Everdeen and I'm very glad to meet you," she says in her most grown up voice, still giggling a little bit as she sticks out her tongue at him. She then gathers her tray, gets up and instead takes the seat next to him, much to his surprise, and then they chat, giggle and tease each other for the duration of the dinner break. The bell rings, stopping them in their tracks, where they were poking each other in the ribs to make the other laugh the most.

He couldn't help but watch her as he happily bounced up and off to her next class, waving to Peeta as she went. "See you soon, Peeta!"

If there was a way that Peeta could describe the feeling in his stomach, he would've said it was like a hundred butterflies had found their way into his tummy and were all flying around in there at once.

He just shook his head, smiled to himself at managing to make a new friend already, and bounced off to his next class, too.

Even when he got home that evening, all he could think about was Katniss Everdeen, the way she sung the Valley song, and the way they'd teased each other at dinner.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"Hey Peeta," a sweet voice called out. "Ready to go to school?"

Katniss. Peeta would recognise that lovely voice anywhere. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her walk into the kitchen where Peeta was currently kneading some bread. "Soon!" He blushed a little when he thought about the dream he'd had last night. It was only a simple one where himself and Katniss walked into the woods, hand in hand, and had a picnic. He woke up shortly after she leant over and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, then gave him the brightest of smiles and leaned into his side. It was not a particularly embarrassing dream, but it was one of many he'd been having recently which found Katniss being his girlfriend. The more embarrassing part was how much he actually enjoyed these simple dreams, and how much his mood would improve after having one. He hasn't actually told Katniss about them, nor is he planning to. Even if he wanted to, he feared that she would see how much he enjoyed them, which was not an option. Even though they were best friends, he would not like to test their friendship by telling her about the dreams – who knew how she would react? She would probably freak out – possibly not even talk to him. Oh no, their friendship was worth more to him than that.

He has now enjoyed a friendship with Katniss since the first day of school, which was a few years ago. They have gone through many, many highs and lows, including her father's death, which happened a couple of years back. It was a horrible time for both himself and Katniss – sure, he hadn't known Mr. Everdeen as well as Katniss, but he'd treated Peeta almost like a second son in the time he had known him, and his death had made an impact on him too. But Katniss had taken the sudden departure particularly hard – not only had she lost her father, she'd lost her mother to depression shortly after. Peeta and his father tried to help out as best as they could – at least making sure there was always _some _food to eat, but despite it all, it forced Katniss to grow up too early, as the responsibility of looking after her sister, Prim, fell down to her. It broke Peeta's heart to watch this happen without him being able to help her more, but it has made Katniss into a stronger woman.

Peeta and Katniss regularly went into the woods to get food there, too. He had once tried hunting for game with Katniss, but after several frustrating trips where Katniss complained that he walked so loudly he scared away all game within a mile's radius, they decided it'd be better if he foraged berries and other edible plants whilst Katniss hunted for game. Either way, it worked out for them, and they would meet at the end and pile all of their food and split it. Generally, Peeta only took some of the berries and perhaps a squirrel or two for his father, and left everything else for Katniss to trade, either with people at the hob, peacekeepers, or people from town.

Sometimes, in the woods, Peeta would stop what he was doing to just simply watch Katniss hunt. He'd always found her beautiful and captivating, and often recalls the first time he'd ever seen her, and he knows deep down that nothing has changed from the little boy who'd gotten sweaty palms and nervous over the girl with the beautiful voice. When Katniss hunts, she looks completely free and happy, which is something he rarely saw in her after her father died.

Peeta realised he'd zoned out whilst Katniss was talking to him when all what he saw was a hand wave in front of his face. "Hello, earth to Peeta?" she said, "Anyone in there?"

When Peeta turned around to her, he saw a smile on her face, and couldn't help but smile back and think of how beautiful she was when she smiled. "What's up?"

"I've been talking to you for five minutes and you've been in your own little world! What were you thinking about?" She smirked. "Was it Delly? I could see you blushing a little."

"Katniss... for the last time, I don't like Delly that way."

"She's awfully pretty and you two seemed pretty cosy in the library the other day..." I swatted at her, and she jumped back, a teasing smile on her face. "Peeta and Delly..."

"We were working on a project... and she sure is pretty, but I know far prettier girls." Peeta smiled to himself.

"Oh?" Katniss poked Peeta in the ribs, just like the way they would when they were kids. "Like who?"

"Unfortunately...If I told you, I'd have to kill you." Peeta replied, poking her back, covering her in a little flour.

She scrunched up her face a little as she wiped it off her top. "Fine!" She sulked a little. "Are you ready yet?"

Peeta nodded as he put the loaves of bread in the oven, called out to his dad to keep an eye on them, took off his apron then picked up his school bag.

He'd fallen in love with Katniss from the moment he'd first ever laid eyes on her, and nothing had ever changed. He still got the butterflies in his stomach when they'd brush hands. Whenever she wasn't around, he was constantly thinking about her (apparently even now in his dreams). Whenever he saw her, his mood instantly lightened. He couldn't imagine his life without Katniss in it. Whenever there was a reaping, he was stood there the entire time, hoping with all of his might that Katniss' name would not be drawn. Which had worked up until now, but unfortunately, their 5th reaping was coming up tomorrow.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Katniss said, looking at him a little concerned.

"I was just thinking about Reaping Day actually." Peeta replied. Oh, how he hoped it would not be Katniss' name drawn. If her name was drawn, there would be very little he could do, unless he volunteered as the male tribute – which Katniss wouldn't like anyway. They'd made a pact a couple of years back, that if Katniss' name ever got drawn, Peeta would make sure Prim was cared for. Which he couldn't do, if he volunteered.

Katniss' expression darkened. "It's Prim's first tomorrow. She keeps having nightmares."

Peeta had completely forgotten that it was Prim's first Reaping Day tomorrow - she was 12 now. "Don't worry, Katniss. It's her first year – her name will only be in there once. She wont get picked." When her worried expression didn't fade, he gave her a tight hug. "She wont, I promise."

Peeta could feel Katniss gripping to his back. "I know...I know. It's just that...Well, Prim is Prim. Her name shouldn't be in there at all. She's too pure, too innocent... too young." Peeta felt her sigh then withdraw from their hug. "I just wish that sometimes we could all escape. Just one day disappear into the woods and never come back. You, me, Prim, perhaps we could take my mother along..."

"Well, you know what would happen then... If we got caught, we'd either be killed or worse, have our tongues cut out. You know about the Avoxes, Katniss."

"_If _we got caught. We could do it, me and you."

"Yes, _we _could. What about Prim and your mother?"

She sighed and we started walking again with a far away expression on her face. "Yeah, true. It would be great though, wouldn't it? If we could just live in the woods..."

Peeta remembers the free and happy Katniss he sees when they go to the woods and he can't help but agree with her.


End file.
